Rosneft, Exxon jointly bid for Mozambique oil fields

RN-Exploration, a 100-per cent subsidiary of Russian oil giant Rosneft and ExxonMobil of the US have jointly applied to participate in a tender for hydrocarbon fields in Mozambique, Rosneft said in a statement on Thursday.

''RN-Exploration (100% Rosneft subsidiary) and ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Mozambique Offshore Limited filed joint bids to participate in the fifth license round organized by the Republic of Mozambique Institute of National Petroleum (Instituto Nacional de Petróleo),'' Rosneft said.

Rosneft said the global partnership of the companies is of a strategic nature and is an extension of their successful partnership at the Sakhalin-1 project.

The two companies are committed to continuing to operate in an environmentally responsible manner in Mozambique if selected, Rosneft said.

The two have decided to bid jointly for the participation in the licence round for contract areas in the Angoche Basin (A5-A and A5-B) and Zambezi Delta (Z5-C and Z5-D).

Exxon will become the operator of the field if the two companies win the tender, Rosneft said.

Rosneft said the prospectivity assessment for the exploration on these contract areas was confirmed within the cooperation of both companies' geological analysis.

Exxon, however, had suspended cooperation with Rosneft in the Kara Sea and in shale oil in Russia because of western sanctions against Rosneft linked to the Ukraine crisis.

Rosneft said the participation in exploration and development projects in Mozambique is a new focus area of its international strategy of positioning in regions of significant hydrocarbon potential, where production is possible in the mid and long-term.

While providing access to access to high-quality assets, the partnerships with global industry leaders, such as ExxonMobil, will allow Rosneft to minimize the risks in the implementation of frontier exploration projects, it added.

Mozambique's oil and gas sector has significant development potential, with its key gas potential concentrated in the Rovuma basin, which has estimated resources of up to 2.2 TCM, and in the Mozambique river basin where 3 onshore gas fields with proven reserves of up to 95 BCM and 1 offshore gas field with resources of up to 56 BCM has been discovered.

According to the US Geological Survey assesses technically recoverable conventional oil and gas resources in the Mozambique Coastal Province to 11,7 BBO, 182 TCFG, and 5,6 BBNGL.